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A Surprising Foreign Choice

By

Javier Espinoza and

Charles Forelle

Updated Nov. 20, 2009 12:01 a.m. ET

Catherine Ashton, the 53-year old British Labour politician, the European Union's foreign-policy chief , has relatively little foreign-policy experience. Until she arrived in Brussels to take over from Peter Mandelson as the EU's trade commissioner, she had served in a series of mid-tier jobs in British politics.

"Judge me by what I do and I think you'll be pleased and proud of me," she told reporters following her appointment. "Am I an ego on legs? No, I'm not."